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Appearance

Ed is a monkey depicted with a pale complexion, short combed orange hair; and wears a suit consisting of a light pink shirt, pink necktie, a light blue blazer, bluish-green dress pants, a belt buckle, and brown shoes.

His original design was seen in a Crosswire family portrait inside of a tent at camp on a page in Arthur Goes to Camp, first published in 1982. In his original design he had clumps of hair and brown monkey fur, and wore glasses and a suit and tie. He was absent from the Arthur franchise for more than ten years, then was brought back in the television series for Season 1, completely redesigned and no longer wearing glasses. He is thought to be around forty to fifty years old, like most other parents in the series.

Personality

Ed is somewhat like his daughter, Muffy, in the way that he can be a snob at times. He is, however, kind and a good parent as seen in "How the Cookie Crumbles". He had talked to Muffy about her situation where she wasn't giving her friends any credit and he had said: "A lie is a lie even when you get away with it". Muffy had then said "And being a car salesman, he won't stand for any lying!" which can be interpreted as her father being a fair man who doesn't scam people into buying his cars. Ed also seems to spoil Muffy, as seen in "The Cherry Tree." When made head coach of the Lakewood Elementary Soccer Team, he stressed the importance of honest play and practice. He did not show favoritism to his daughter but did provide positive encouragement. Despite his high-class lifestyle, Ed showed good grace when staying in a shelter in "Shelter from the Storm."

Trivia

Ed's middle name, Edsel, is likely a reference to the car of the same name from the Ford Motor Company. This is presumably an inside joke, as the Edsel was the late 50s and early 60s car model, the name of which remains synonymous in popular culture with commercial failure. It might also be a reference to Henry Ford's son, who was named for the car.